With the tax year end just around the corner, now is the perfect time to review your personal tax planning strategies. Whether you are looking to maximise deductions, claim work from home expenses or to optimise your superannuation contributions, these EOFY 2025 tax tips will help reduce your taxable income.
If you are running a business, you may also be interested in our EOFY 2025 Business Tax Ideas – CLICK HERE FOR BUSINESS TAX TIPS
Donations to deductible gift recipient (DGR) organisations can be claimed as a tax deduction where you hold a receipt from the entity. The receipt or third party documentation must show the payment is to a DGR and identify the amount of the donation or gift.
Roadside bucket donations up to a total of $10 may be claimed without holding a valid receipt. Purchases of raffle tickets, fundraising chocolates or other payments where you receive a benefit in return are not eligible donations, even if paid to a DGR.
The Australian Business Register lists organisations that are deductible gift recipients – here is a link if you wish to check: CLICK HERE
There are two ways you can claim home office expenses. Under both methods, to be eligible to claim home office expenses, you must:
To calculate your working from home expenses, you can use the fixed rate method or the actual cost method. Remember, you can only claim the work-related portion of an expense.
The fixed rate method allows you to claim 70 cents per hour you work from home for the expenses listed below:
Expenses included in the fixed rate are:
You cannot claim a separate deduction for any of the expenses included in the fixed rate method.
To access this method, you need to keep a detailed log of the days and times you are working from home.
You can claim a separate deduction for:
The actual cost method allows you to claim a deduction for the actual expenses you incur as a result of working from home. You may be able to claim a deduction for each of the expenses you incur, such as:
This method requires detailed and complex record keeping. For further details refer to the ATO Fact Sheet “Working from home deduction”.
You can contribute into super as a concessional contribution up to $30,000 (including your employer contributions).
The contribution must be received by your fund by 30th June 2025. It is suggested that contributions are made by the 23rd June 2025 to ensure the fund gets them by 30th June 2025.
These contributions will be taxed at:
If your super account balance is less than $500 000 at 30th June 2024, and you haven’t used the full amount of your contribution cap in previous years starting from 2019, you can use the previously unused amounts for up to five years.
For example:
You can find out the amount of your unused concessional contributions through your My Gov account or call us.
In order to claim your personal superannuation contribution as a tax deduction (eg non-employer contribution), you will need to give your fund a form called “a notice of intent to claim”. Ideally, you would request the Notice of Intent from your superannuation fund at the time you make the contribution. However, if this did not happen at that time, just contact your super fund as soon as possible.
Your fund will then provide you with an acknowledgment letter, confirming the contribution and allowing you to claim a tax deduction.
You are unable to claim a deduction for a personal superannuation contribution if you do not hold this letter at the time of loding your tax return. (PS – We will request a copy of the acknowledgment letter as part of preparing your tax return.)
Need help with your Notice of Intent form? Contact us to discuss.
If your spouse’s income is less than $37 000 p.a and you make a contribution into their super account of up to $3,000, you will receive a tax offset of $540. This offset reduces to nil as their income increases to $40, 000 p.a
If you earn less than $60,400 and make an after-tax contribution to your superannuation fund, then the government will also contribute. To be eligible, at least 10% of your income needs to be from employment or business income and you must be under 71 years of age.
The amount you will receive depends on how much you contribute and how much you earn. If you earn less than $45,400, then for every dollar you contribute, the government will add 50c, up to a maximum of $500 (i.e., add $1,000, the government will add $500).
As your income increases, the co-contribution rate decreases until your income is $60,400, when no co-contribution is made. The table below sets out the co-contribution amounts based on
| If your personal contribution is: | $1000 | $500 |
| If your annual income is: | Your super co-contribution will be: | |
| Up to $45,400 | $500 | $250 |
| $48,400 | $400 | $250 |
| $51,400 | $300 | $250 |
| $54,400 | $200 | $200 |
| $57,400 | $100 | $100 |
| $60,400 (or more) | Nil | Nil |
In order to claim motor vehicle expenses against your salary income, you would need to prove that you have been travelling for work purposes. You can claim using either of two methods: cents per kilometre or log book.
If you want to claim motor vehicle expenses using a logbook, ensure you have a valid logbook prepared within the last five years. The logbook should record details of when you are travelling for work.
A valid logbook can be an electronic version or a paper version. Regardless of which one you choose, it must record ALL of the following details:
You need to keep a logbook for at least 12 continuous weeks and it should be broadly reflective of your travel. You should also record your odometer reading at the start and end of the logbook period.
The percentage of work travel would be calculated from this record and applied to the total of your motor vehicle expenses throughout the year and claimed as a deduction.
An alternative method where no log book is needed, is to simply claim up to a maximum of 5 000 km business travel, based on a reasonable estimate, using the cents per km method. The km claim must be based on diary notes or other documentation. For 2025, 88 cents per km can be claimed.
If you own investments such as shares or property, and you pay up to 12 months in advance of interest on a loan or other expenses before 30 June 2025, you will be able to claim these amounts in the 2025 tax year.
You may also prepay other expenses like property repairs, memberships or subscriptions.
If you are unable to work as result of sickness or an accident, Income Protection Insurance will replace a significant percentage of your salary. These premiums are tax deductible and protect your family’s lifestyle.
These premiums can also be prepaid for up to 12 months and claimed as a deduction in 2025.
The ATO has a keen interest in this evolving space. Record keeping is critical. Ensure you are able to calculate any gains or losses on cryptocurrency transactions undertaken during the year. Even if you have only made capital losses, you still need to disclose these on your tax return.
Consider disposing of an asset after 30th June. If the contract date for disposal of a CGT asset occurs on 21st June 2025 and settlement is 21st July 2025, any capital gain is recorded in your 2025 year tax return. However, if the contract date is after 30 June 2025, then the sale date and any associated capital gains tax will fall into the 2026 tax year.
It is the contract date, not the settlement date, that is critical for working out when a sale occurs and in which year capital gains tax will apply.
Having your paperwork organised always makes life much easier. Preparing your end of year documents and information prior to coming to see us will save you time and money. This is a general list of what to have ready when we next meet with you.